#i really cannot separate this name from her face ig^^'

[bebemoon]

look for the name INGRID (requested by anonymous) | christian dior black backless bias-cut silk and velvet devore dress (a/w 2oo2), { mood } ingrid bergman's soft-eyed starlet face from george cukor's film "gaslight" (1944), vintage glass bead and lucite handbag w/ thick braided handle and gold trimmings (c. 194o's), nina ricci "l'air du temps" eau de parfum (vintage lalique bottle), vita mori black leather platform mary-jane pumps (c. 199o's)

[akascow]

Corazón Marikit :3

okay no need to worry about another sad soul on your dash sucking the fun from every new doll they release (self roast bc ive definitely done this in other posts but this is different i swear) for the most part this is all positive with like a few small notes of "eh idk abt this but its no biggie" BUT overall i think its a super cool doll i really like it :3

i totally started writing this BEFORE seeing ANY other opinion post about her btw bc my tl hadnt caught up yet so sorry if it seems similair to another's

this started as a simple opinion post bc i do it for all the new MH characters but here i am THREE HOURS later finally finishing writing this and its basically just an entire deep dive into every single piece of her outfit and how it was inspired by Filipino fashion and culture bc i kinda autism'd too close to the sun for a while there HAHA

okay thanks anyway enjoy my silly words

**also to preface, im not Filipino so i cant speak on if its good/bad rep obviously SO this is j from an outside perspective and with the small facts i already knew about the manananggal aswell as my somewhat brief research deepdive into Filipino culture and fashion in relation to the doll, which i did try my best to make sure i got these right (part of the reason this post took me 3.5 hours to make LMAO) BUT pls correct me if im wrong for any of these names bc i dont want to spread misinformation or seem like im treading on someone else's culture... oh and dont take my word for shit HAHA **

EDIT here is a great post from someone who IS Filipino, bijoubetrayal if you want to know their insight from personal ties and firsthand knowledge into her design, i recommend reading through it :33

before we start for the maybe one person that was wondering yes i totally bought the doll already HAHA im a massive sucker for extremely unique monster high body features (isi's hooves, marisols huge feet, iris' single eye, wydowna's 6 arms, etc) so when they announced her as a manananggal and that she can separate at the torso i immediately ran to snatch her lmao i am not a strong soldier okay. also u can get her [here] if u want

FACE + HEAD

her screening is super cute, and she's got bat ears ! bc well ig shes basically a vampire HAHA but i think thats neat PLUS im always a fan of beauty marks and darker/thicker eyebrows theyre really nice

AND !! the nose is so pretty we dont get to see a lot of MH dolls with the flatter nose bridge :3

idk where else to put this so i'll do it here but her name Corazón Marikit means Beautiful Heart (im fairly certain) and i find that really sweet for some reason but also its like humorously ironic given that manananggals eat the hearts from their victims AHAHA

okay idk if ive been staring at her too long but they somehow managed to make her color palette coherent ? like red pink purple cream and lime yellow generally dont work well together and it worried me when i first saw her but it actually looks pretty good the longer i look? i could be losing it tho so

DRESS + SHOES

the dress pattern is starting to grow on me, still not sure on if i totally like the foil but that might just be bc im not a fan of red-heart designs in general, although thats just for the pattern, i still like the look and style of the dress overall its cutie

i think the puffy sleeves plus the cut of the neckline and shape of the dress are all akin to the Filipiniana style mestiza dress and terno sleeves (from what i could tell)

also dude ? the red tassels imitate how the intestines hang out when manananggals detach themself brooo thats so neat LMAO like iykyk but if u dont it just adds some fun motion HAHA

cannot make out the specific design of her heels i think its like a palmtree over a house ? but anyway i always love when MH make heels look like tiny objects or a person or smth its so fun HEEHEE

and the sculpting for the shoes are suuuper detailed looking like woodgrain and woven palms, maybe a shoe design from PH which im fairly certain are Bakyâ (?) so uh hell yeah HAHA

ACCESSORIES

those wings thooooo like the wingers (wing fingers) being so thick and prominent, though they couldve been bigger kinda like batsy claro's given theyre such a big part of the story but alas

ALSO WOAH the skin(?) between them being actual embroidered fabric instead of just plastic ooh that is SO INTERESTING to me its so tiny and intricate omgggg

neon lime green jewelry is an uhhh interesting choice to pair with her color palette but i dont really care enough about colors to get into that lmfaoo

the necklace is super hard to make out from the stock photos but it looks like pooka shells ? which i doubt is correct, however the closest thing that it looks like i THINK are the bailog style of necklace from what i can find, but theres a a bunch of styles of those it seems so i cant be completelyyy sure

her head piece are sampaguita/jasmine flowers which are the natl flower of PH its pretty lmao

PLUS !!! the stand is SO COOL !!! it bends at the top so u can position her to look like shes separated and flying THATS SO THOUGHTFUL ?? idk it made me smile at least lmao

ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS

OKAY SO i think she looks reallyyyyy cool definitely one of the better skullector dolls from the past few years imo

ofc i really like the idea of introducing other cultures’ monster-mythology to mainstream, especially bc there are some really cool ones out there that are seldom heard or seen unless theyre completely butchered or changed in western media

and its a nice way for people to learn about them,, plus for people who grew up with these folktales to see their stories and culture actually represented

it is amusing to me that they somehow turned this horrific mythological monster lady-- that usually has intestines hanging out of her torso, flying around at night, eating fetuses straight out of the wombs of pregnant people and seducing men before eating them alive-- into a cute pink and purple girlie HAHA /lh but i mean yeah clearly thats kinda always been the point of monster high lol, this one just feels especially drastic if you compare a manananggal to like an original sea monster or a were-animal LMAO

and like everyone else already said, that price tag is a lot as usual🙄 like mattel seems really inconsistent with their pricing on creations dolls that are seemingly super close in detail and quality lmao idk... i wasnt expecting mattel to be humble tho, and i wont go into another fang club pricing rant here again, its just always a tad disappointing to see but oh well i guess, doesnt play that big a role in this post's topic so im not elaborating lol

it seems like a lot of care and effort went into her design, however, in order to represent PH as far as i can tell, so that makes me happy bc MH Does Not have the greatest track record in that category lookin at you jinafire lmfao

okay thats all im officially out of words to conjure up in my brain :3 if u sat through all this, im sorry for allat but thanks for staying HAHA

[inact-ice]

Episode 8 season 2!

- hello Taylor Kelly. I’m pissed at you

- girl I get you, men ain’t shit

- no he dropped his bear claw, which ig is like an American beaver tail so it’s gotta be good

- hi Buck hi Eddie

- NOT THE POLICE PULLING OUT GUNS OUT MY FUCKING GOD CAN YOU GUYS DO NOTHING RIGHT

- Buck please don’t bring Abby into this, her mom DIED! No I do get why bucks so upset like being ghosted must suck

- this show is so unserious, I’m glad this guy sees his wife ig. But girl you’re going to prison! I get why they’re arresting her but like clearly she was going through something

- MARY J BLIGE!!?? On hit network tv show 9-1-1? And they’re playing family affair? This damn show

- Athena you’re so right, your mean gay husband is kinda crazy for this

- Buck we literally saw you flirt with Taylor Kelly like 2 episodes ago, why are you lyiiiing. He’s living with chimney rn?? Love that for him, chimney and Buck brother hours

- MADNEY!! Hi Maddie! HI MADNEY! OMG THIS IS THE KARAOKE EPISODE RIGHT?? YAY

- Athena Jesus Christ, and this is why acab always. Bc that lady’s life might be ruined bc she clearly had a mental break

- Glenn does not say acab

- MADNEY KARAOKE TIMES YAY! Buck, chimney is going to fuck your sister.

- TAYLOR KELLY! Damn madney has a great voice! Taylor Kelly tell Buck chimneys gonna fuck his sister.

- not Taylor Kelly w/ the you come here often, girl I still don’t like you but you’re a smooth one for sure. Buck are you gonna tell everyone you talk to that your ex ghosted you? Like damn she hasn’t even gotten a paragraph in. Ope and they’re fucking. Welp. Taylor Kelly I heard he’s quite good at it so I hope you have a good time… but you’re too good for bad bathroom sex girl

- why tf are the firefighters here, does this city not have like regular paramedics

- AWW GAS STATION EMOLOYEE LOVE STORY! AWWW!

- Buck where are you rn. Hi Taylor Kelly! Taylor Kelly’s gonna set him straight right? Like he’s being so condescending, as if she can’t have consensual sex with whoever she wants. He truly believes in the power of his magic dick. OOH DENIED! Get HUMBLED! Oh dude he really does have a magic dick. Yeah Buck maybe SHE doesn’t respect YOU! Never thought of that didya

- wow we haven’t heard much from Eddie this episode at all. I love watching them do firefighter stuff tho. Oh are we getting to the Eddie arc now, is this gonna be a him and Shannon thing? Ope never mind ig I think it might just be a regular emergency separated from anyone’s personal drama! Bobby you are just so catholic

- MADNEY! Omg buck totally left that girl on a roof after hooking up w/ her, he IS getting bucked. Who’re we talking to? Taylor Kelly???

- OH HERES THE GAY OLD COUPLE THAT DIES! I love recognizing the random moments people have talked about. Oh no… not the life story montage… oh I’m gonna cry. Oh they’ve lived such a life. This guys name is Thomas??? That’s kinda funny actually. OH NO OH NO OH NO! This is an awful way to die. Eddie stop serving face my otp just died. Buck only hoping to find something this good… a relationship with a gay older guy named Thomas? Yeah give it 5 seasons buddy. Ohhh Thomas was the other guy! Never mind. Welp. Glad they died together ig

- chimney! You’re at the dispatch station wow, I’m expecting lotsa madney! MADDIE HE WANTS TO TAKE IT ON! Madneys’ kinda mirroring Buck and Abby in a way

- BATHENA NOW TOO? Yippee! You guys should get married

- Taylor Kelly ngl I cannot recognize you w/ your hair different, but your voice is so distinct. Also why is Eddie being mentioned on bucks first date. Anyways. Yeah Taylor Kelly the 1.0 and 2.0 thing is so weird, just ignore it

- bathena adorable dance scene love it!

Ok the episodes are getting less boring, though I wish there was a bit more hen in this one tbh. Ooh tho next episode is hen begins so ig I’ll get my fic soon!

[marimopeace]

there's a limit on how much you can be an isekai intellectual...

a bunch of analyses have been popping up before me all day so i wanted to throw my hat into the ring. all love to ppl who are exercising their creative minds + ppl like geoff here who just talk about these things because of fan interest but i feel like there reaches a point where exploring the "types" of isekai is pointless? i've seen ppl list out the different types of villainess revenge isekai or fantasy mmorpg isekai but eh why fit them all into separate boxes like that?

i think it's easier to think of isekai as a "type" (genre) of itself with only two categories: 1) a focus on isekai (lit. another world) 2) tensei (lit. to be reborn). this allows for a variety of applications and thus tropes that ppl see so many trends of!

with isekai - in another world

you see everything from:

pure fantasy (inuyasha, digimon wait maybe not the best example but in my childhood mind i count digimon as pure fantasy, fushigi yugi)

mmorpg inspired fantasy/adventure (.hack//legend of twilight, sao ugh, log horizon, overlord (LOVE OVERLORD!)

otome game-esque worlds >>> this is where it gets complicated with "villainess routes" since i admit there are multiple villainess tropes but this is why it's nice to not think of this as a "sub-type/genre" bc it frees you from those complications! (the saint's magic power is omnipotent, the white cat's revenge as plotted from the dragon king's lap soso cute!, the savior's book cafe in another world, i'm a villainous daughter so i'm going to keep the last boss wait i can't remember if she's reborn in this one lmaooo see this is why rules make everything hard)

with tensei storylines - being reincarnated/reborn in another world as *insert character/role*

you see...

the same tropes!!

pure fantasy (a returner's magic should be special, reminiscence adonis, the lady and the beast, light and shadow, i can't think of a manga off the top of my head for this ah)

mmorpg inspired fantasy/adventure (so i'm a spider so what i stan kumoko so hard, her majesty's swarm, can't name another off the top of my head ah i hate lists shorter than two things...)

self-insert based games/novels (fiance's observation log of a self-proclaimed villainess, who made me a princess, death is the only ending for the villainess, the villainess wants to marry a commoner, honestly games vs novels are different applications but i'm not in the headspace to try to remember a bunch of both lol)

*insert line break to give random ppl a break from scrolling but tl; dr just enjoy things for what they are no need to micro analyze*

similar variations occur in both genres (if ppl want to be super technical i guess i'm arguing that isekai itself is a massive genre that has the "another world" subgenre and "reincarnation" subgenre tl; dr) so i think it's honestly a huge pain to try to separate all these trends into so many different types of stories. for me personally it's easier to not get overwhelmed by this gigantic umbrella of "isekai" that spans light novels, manhwa, manga, and mobile games by just stripping each story down into its trademark tropes (aka character archetypes, story structures) and slapping "oh this is a person going to a world that's not ours" and "this person gets reborn as blank in another world". none of this "omg this power fantasy is such a this kind of isekai moment" or "there are 14 different types of villainess revenge stories and this series fits into this" bc AH labels! limitations! circle-jerks via ppl trying to compartmentalize everything and sound smart for leaving a comment on story analysis instead of ooh-ahhing over a character's face! dividing things into light novel manga vs manga vs korean manhwa ft. female characters!

the last bit is mainly why i feel frustrated by ppl's insistence to group everything?

the video linked at the beginning of the post (honestly good video essay, i enjoyed it, i just kept thinking in my head the whole time "marimo these are tropes do not take the genre talk literally") has a baby comment thread talking about "korean isekai manhwas" as a genre featuring nothing but reincarnated villainess' and i can't.

like i cannot acknowledge that as a genre of any sort. the energy i felt reading through some of those insights takes me back to 2012 when all yt americans discovered k-pop and deemed all korean music k-pop from then on! (ppl still do this now, yes you are seen and don't talk to me pls i don't like you. k-pop is korean pop music and nothing less and nothing more. take a few seconds and try to parse apart aspects of korean culture instead of slamming everything into a monolithic label that has the letter k and a hyphen.) it feels so odd to see a bunch of young ppl on ig and tiktok acknowledge korean media that happens to be in the form of a webtoon as "oh stories all about young girls becoming villains in stories they made/played" bc it feels so reductive u.u

(positionality disclaimer that i'm praying isn't actually necessary: i am a 3rd-generation korean of japanese descent do not fite me i am exhausted irl of ppl asking for validation/verification bc massive shove off.)

breaking news! korean manhwa...is just as multifaceted as japanese manga...bc how can comics as an art-form not have multiple genres...huh such a shocker?!?! same likely applies to media in other parts of the world like chinese manhwa and french comics--not my place to explain either of those i just know those industries exist bc of wakfu and donghua shows by Tencent.

at the end of the day it's not like analyzing any kind of isekai is wrong--absolutely not!! i think it can be super fun to think about how isekai elements complicate a story (MCs trying to go back home, ppl from the og world, reincarnation plot-twists) or maybe even bash a series for including some kind of other world element when they could have just written a super fun fantasy.

insert marimo's brief ramble that hey you can get sick of truck-kun's hitting disillusioned guys who happen to be super duper smart or girls who happen to be master chefs/craftsmen but transporting a fully-grown being into a fantasy setting is the ultimate cheat code for making mundane modern technology seem cool and overpowered, and being reincarnated as a fully grown person in a world with a pre-made story/game set-up completely bypasses the need for an author to slowly flesh out world-building in a natural progression so isekai is actually a really smart writing tool it's just that there are some series where the author didn't use it well at all and it's cheesy or clearly isekai was misused as a vehicle for character/story development and it was pointless *DEEP BREATH OUT*

in this essay i will argue...lol i am such a culture studies major!! if i were an english major i would be talking all about writing but here i am having a side-tangent about world-building via someone being reborn wow i love this for me (don't get me started on when an author has someone reincarnate as a baby and the story is mostly them having warm fluffy moments with their family--typically father figures--and getting lots of powers i could and would and probably will rant about east asian toxicity)

but anyway am i crazy????? like yes for being passionate about the technical use of a word like genre (i am a scorpio rising let me be fussy pls) but i don't think it's a lot to ask for ppl to not unironically see "villainess revenge isekai" as the definition of korean manhwa.

idk as someone who resonates with why japanese isekai is so popular domestically + why a lot of korean manhwa feat. the same tropes (it's not for great reasons lads it's actually depressing tbh) i'm just starting to feel kind of pained by the generalization and need to separate "cute japanese girl in an otome game"/"japanese boy finds a harem in another world" from "korean girl dies and comes back as a villainess" bc they are just! applications to the same story device!!

recommendations for any who makes it this far down below <3

// also gladly recommend any of the examples i've listed in the above rant as i've read/watched all of them and adore them v much! //

save me princess

super refreshing fantasy manhwa ft. a princess and her ex-boyfriend having to save the world!

the beginning after the end

an AMERICAN web novel turned into a comic (but see it being not korean/japanese doesn't really matter when you just consider isekai as a genre...isn't it nice to not overthink it?) ft. a super-powerful wizard king reincarnated into another world and starting from scratch--gives mushoku tensei vibes but huge twists!

the reason why raeliana ended up at the duke's mansion

love love LOVE this story--read the title and you'll learn how this girl reincarnated as the character raeliana in a book gets married to a duke!

trash of the count's family

such a good novel!! a guy gets reborn as a lazy oaf and he takes the hero of the story under his wing...plot twists come up later on!

this time i will definitely be happy!

v good and refreshing for a shorter series! she's been reborn 3 times and remembers every time the hero's stabbed her in the back, and now she just wants to break up with him!

silver diamond

older manga but v good adventure w intrigue! a boy who loves plants get sucked into a desert world with demonic lizards and a mysterious bodyguard by his side. shonen-ai not BL but wonderful vibes nonetheless + great side characters!

the princess imprints a traitor

adore everything in this from the world (not in that way this society makes me so angry) to the machinations at play and the dynamic between the fl and ml

[what-breaks-my-heart]

Here are some brief thoughts on kdrama that started airing in 2020 that I've watched. I said brief, but those who have been following me would appreciate that this is indeed, brief.

The list is in alphabetical order.

1. 365: Repeat the Year (MBC)

Disclosure: I am a HUGE Lee Joon Hyuk stan. He is second only to Hyun Bin on my list. The fact that this drama is on the top of this list is a happy coincidence 🥰🥰

I was soooooooo excited when I knew Lee Joon Hyuk was to star in a new drama. MBC made the announcement of the drama late last year, and I was literally walking to the office when I saw the announcement on ig.

The premise of the drama was pretty straightforward. 10 people were given the chance to travel back in time exactly one year prior. Mysterious things kept happening to the people who took the trip, so our Detective Ji “Fluffy-Hair” Hyung Joo and webtoon writer Shin “Self-Hater” Ga Hyun joined hands to figure out what exactly happened.

Once they finally figured out what caused the mysterious cases, they faced a great dilemma on what to do, with our Fluffy Hair detective running as a fugitive.

The ending was really sad, and I really wished it ended differently, but the main character of the story was our Fluffy Hair detective, and him having to live on and reset the whole thing from the new past was a nice touch to the ending.

This drama was full of surprises, twist and turn, and it is certainly a drama I would consider rewatching in the future.

2. Do You Like Brahms? (SBS)

Many people criticised the second half of this drama. Apparently the year 2020 is the year when kdramaland keeps being a disappointment, and many people are quick to include this drama in the list of disappointing drama, despite having a good beginning.

I beg to differ though. To me this drama feels more of a healing drama, wherein the characters are forced to deal with their issues. And anyone who has had to go through any form of therapy knows how hard healing process is.

TL;DR: The main leads are both people who have been mentally abused by the people around them, except for Cha Young In, because she was the only reason I did not throw my remote control at my 50-inch TV.

Park Joon Young is your classic example of a ‘gifted kid’ struggle. He was seen as a young, talented pianist who had a bright future ahead of him. But people started to treat him more like a trophy than a human being, so he decided to take a sabbatical, much to the criticism of people in the music industry. Park Joon Young realised that his passion in playing the piano has faded away, no thanks to his abusive piano professor who belittled him again and again, and practically brainwashed him into being a people pleaser. You could see how Park Joon Young was not himself in the beginning of the drama once you finish the drama.

Chae Song Ah took interest in violin at a later age (much later than professional musicians) and decided to pursue her dream by enrolling into a music programme. Her classmates were all younger than her, and it didn’t help that they all learnt music since much younger. I love how Song Ah did not give up on her dream easily and gave it her all, before she finally decided to let go of her dream to become a musician. The metaphor of her love for violin and Joon Young hurting her again and again and she just endured it though.. I cried like a mess well I am a mess but that’s a separate issue

Special shout out to Cha Young In who was there for both of them.

3. Flower of Evil (tvN)

If thriller is your thing, consider this drama. If you are one of those people who like to see your characters being tortured (physically and mentally), this drama is a MUST WATCH. And if you enjoy watching Lee Joon Ki playing a character who is put at a great distress because he is trying to run from his past, go watch this drama.

More importantly, if you enjoy a drama where your ML is sexy, attends to house chores and takes care of his bright young daughter while his wife goes crazy for solving violent crimes, a devoted husband who is attentive and a tender person but also a freak in the sheets, you are wasting every single of your breath not watching this drama.

I mean look at this man teasing his wife about his stamina.

Flower of Evil did not feel draggy at all. Everything that happened within the first 6 episodes could have been an entire drama if this was written by someone else. Seriously, this drama kept me at the edge of my couch!

The dynamic of HS and JW screams POWER COUPLE but at the same time it broke my heart how they were pushed into corners too many times by the people around them I do hope they had some sexy times while they were in the corners though

The focus on their wedding rings throughout the drama symbolised their unbreakable bond. The wedding rings were literally the very last thing that kept them together when JW stumbled upon evidences that pointed against HS.

JW, whose compass was only trusting what she saw, and not what she heard, tried to break the stigma of women being at a disadvantage in the police force. Heck, she was better than her entire team when it came to solving cases, her being the only woman in the team. Who said women cannot make good cops?

The plot twist though.. And the climax.. To this day, I still listen to this soundtrack from the drama and cry just thinking of the climax.

4. Into the Ring (also known as Memorials) (KBS2)

I didn’t even plan on watching this drama. I was channel surfing and saw Park Sung Hoon looking all depressed in the first episode and ran into Koo Se Ra. Girl was UNHINGED and determined to fight for her way.

Her motivation was initially on getting a stable pay check from being a district representative (it was only 60 million won which is like USD55k so it’s not that much) but she eventually became the district representative who fought for the benefit of the people and did not care for the political warfare that took place.

Came along Seo Gong Myung, a government officer in the local government office who was demoted from planning unit of the accounting department or something to be a secretariat to the district assembly. Seo Gong Myung sticks to his principle no matter what, which surprise surprise, is HATED by everyone in the district government.

Turns out our main leads were friends when they were kids so Se Ra kept teasing him and dragging him into her scheme of fighting for the people, which Gong Myung agreed to, not so much because he was a community-loving person, but because he was afraid Se Ra would get into trouble since she was as straight as a ruler.

Long story short, our leads fell for each other, and their relationship was HILAIROUS to watch. I think I speak for everyone who watched the drama that we had no reason to believe Se Ra did not peg Gong Myung for fun 😝😝

They were so cute together awwww

5. Kairos (MBC)

This is another drama that I stumbled into. Only this time, I saw Nam Gyu Ri and I remember seeing her ig post on a new drama so I decided to give it a go. She wrecked my heart in 49 Days so I decided to check this out for funsies. Hooo boy was I in for a major surprise.

The first two episodes got me hooketh!! I still cannot believe how the drama managed to keep me on my edge especially during the last 5 minutes of every episode. The pacing is even faster than Flower of Evil, and since this drama went back and forth between past and future, it keeps me guessing whether their efforts would bear fruit.

Will Kim “Sexy Brain” Seo Jin  and Han “I-Know-No-Fear” Ae Ri succeed in fighting the evil, who at this point in time remains unknown? I know Chairman Yoo Seo Il is currently being hinted as the culprit behind everything but I know better that he is just a puppet who sold his soul to the real devil who most likely is in the higher ranks in politics. I mean he even hinted at his remorse for what happened with Taejung Town 19 years prior. My suspicion is he is trying to cover up whatever happened because otherwise his own family would be at risk, so his only option is to redeem himself by doing something about the Taejung Town. I could be wrong, but regardless of who turns out to be the real villain in the story, I can say I am so satisfied by how the story has progressed so far.

The time paradox still hurts my brain, but I am choosing that this drama does not assume that time is linear.

There is still not enough people watching this drama and I’m begging you all to go and catch up before it ends in two weeks time.

6. More than Friends (JTBC)

A little trivia: I reblog most of the posts from @kdramastuff even if I am not watching the show at the point of reblogging the posts. I had been following her posts on this drama for 3 weeks, and I finally decided to marathon all 6 episodes and joined the watching party.

More than Friends was another drama that many people called a disappointment but I had a different opinion on it. Yes, I used to be the nerd who had different opinions on many things in high school sue me

The drama is premised on Kyung Woo Yeon who is said to have a crush on her high school friend, Lee Soo for 10 years. Lee Soo is nowhere near to be the perfect boyfriend material. He is selfish, does not care about other people’s feelings, and was always a lone ranger.

BUUUUUUT, Lee Soo seemed to show signs of care and affection (even though it was not at all for a normal person’s standard) for Woo Yeon. Surprisingly, he seemed to only do it for Woo Yeon and gave attention to Woo Yeon alone, even though he could practically pick and choose anyone he liked from the swarm of girls who were chasing him.

One day, he told Woo Yeon that he had to leave to the US to study, which made our girl sad. She decided to confess at the airport, but he outright turned her down, saying he only wanted to be friends with her. Over the time, they kept running into each other by coincidence (note: her name Woo Yeon is a wordplay on coincidence in Korean). Later, it was revealed that he wanted her to always be by his side, but he has built a wall as tall as the Great Wall of China before the idea of love so he didn’t realise what his true feeling for Woo Yeon was all along.

Woo Yeon, who felt sick of the ten-year crush, decided to end the “curse” and kissed him by the beach, thinking of getting a closure on her crush.

Long story short, Lee Soo finally realised his feeling for her and decided to confess, but by that time, a young, handsome, rich CEO of a conglomerate has entered into the picture. Cue the game of cat and mouse between Lee Soo and Woo Yeon about resentment, regret and relationship.

This drama was promoted as a romcom, but it feels more like a slice-of-life drama with a mix of melo and romcom in there. Seriously, I cried buckets watching this drama, not something you’d expect from a romcom. The dialogues were well-written, with each episode revolving around a specific theme. This was such a good drama coming from a rookie writer.

This drama did not have that many viewers to begin with, and many of those few people dropped it along the way, including the one who was responsible in getting me hooked into this drama :p  By the end of it, there were so few people talking about this drama in the tag (shout out to @dohyunsoo @have-yet-to-decide @starfire-s @thbn-anything​ for keeping me company to the very end of this drama)

This drama broke my record of screenshots per episode and total screenshots for any show. Until now, I have yet to finish posting them. I should probably upload more screenshots later tonight.

This drama had some AMAZING shots in the first half, with beautiful sceneries mostly in Seoul. It’s like what they said, “a daily occurrence for you, a trip for me”.

7. Oh My Baby (tvN)

I did not even remember watching this drama!! It was only after scrolling through my gallery that I saw I had shared some posts on my ig story about the drama.

It was in the middle of a lockdown when this drama aired and many of my memories from back then feel so distant to me.

The plot was not THAT good, but this drama is something you may consider if you like torturing yourself about the struggle of wanting to have a baby.

8. Once Again (KBS2)

Arguably one of the weekend family drama KBS2 in a while that kept me waiting for new episodes in front of my TV. Some people are turned off by weekend family drama because they tend to have slow pacing which makes viewers feel like they are being dragged to one of those boring corporate events that you would rather miss and wish you could be literally anywhere else.

Because this drama had more pairing than the typical weekend family drama, the story did take some time before it was on full momentum. It did feel like the drama could have been better with even one less sibling to worry about, but it was a fun watch in the middle of lockdown.

Will I watch it again? I’d rather rewatch House of Bluebird (starring Lee Joon Hyuk and Lee Sang Yeob as friends to enemies to friends again) because that drama spoke to me in a way that was more relatable. No hate to Once Again though. I just prefer House of Bluebird better.

Note: Justice for Song Ga Hee and her lovely son, Kim Ji Hoon. He had to grow up so much because of what happened to his mother, that it broke Ga Hee’s heart. And mine of course

9. Secret Forest 2 (tvN)

I watched Secret Forest once it has finished and I fell in love with the drama! Imagine my excitement when they announced Secret Forest 2 with my three main characters reprising their roles. No hate to Yoon Se Ah, I love her, but her screen time in Secret Forest was not enough to make me excited about her return. But I was pleased with her role in Secret Forest 2 and I hope if there is a third season, her character gets the redemption arc that she yearns for.

Secret Forest 2 was not as intense as the brilliant original, but I understood that it had to do with the overall theme of the season, and the theme required the script to be as such. Some people may argue me on this, but I still think what they pulled off was brilliant.

Too bad there was a severe lack of Lee Joon Hyuk on my screen though.

10. Tale of the Nine-Tailed (tvN)

Well. This drama went far beyond my expectation. The OTP was to die for. No such thing as miscommunication trope. This drama did not waste time on unnecessary drama. The pacing was incredibly fast, even faster than Kairos. Although to be fair, Kairos had to play with two different timelines and required time to establish the setting.

I’m sad about what happened to Lee Rang, but he did what he did, and he would never be able to erase that much pain from his memory even if the deities decided to be lenient on him because of his roles in killing off Imoogi. A fresh start as a human seemed like a fair reset to his life, and I hope he lives well, surrounded by people who love him.

I was never a fan of Jo Bo Ah (no hate on her, I was just indifferent) but this drama opened my eyes to what an incredible actress she is. I wish her a successful career ahead.

[howtosingit]

I haven't had a chance to fully dive into all the goodies last nights video has produced.. nor have I had a chance to read all your thoughts which you know I crave love . I was dumb and watched 3 911 episodes last night ignoring my ig notification that ronen had shared anything so then I had to go to bed bc of work and work has been crqzy. But anyways I just wanted to hear some of your thoughts and say Tarlos officially fried my brain and I really want to write in the spare time I don't have bc of work 🙈🙊 their soft smiles, kisses, possibly meeting the fam, their date (and let's be honest Carlos was hot as fuck sauntering up to the bar announcing he was tks boyfriend... you know someone got laid that night) sorry not sorry 🙈

Anyways hit me with your thoughts when you're free if you want ❤

LISTEN, LAUREN. I am always up to share my thoughts because they never end and they just keep coming and I have to unleash them somehow or I will definitely explode.

My brain was just like, ALL CAPS SCREAMING, for about 7 hours yesterday, so I’ll leave you to explore that hot mess on my blog if you want. 😅 But, in the time since, I’ve seen a lot of discourse and stuff about the moments that we’ve seen, so I’m going to use this ask as an opportunity to weigh in on everything under the cut...

FIRST, CAN I JUST SAY that at the moment that I am writing this post, we are still trending at #5 and we’ve been in the 4-7 range for at least the past, like, IDK, 18-20 hours maybe?! I LOVE THIS FANDOM AND HOW WE LOSE OUR SHIT AT THE SMALLEST THINGS

Okay, so let me go through this thing and comment on the parts, and then give some general thoughts below:

LOVE that this is a promo entirely about the LGBTQIA+ characters and characters of color. Not exactly surprised that they still tried to put as much Rob Lowe in it as possible (that’s Fox/the writers’ M.O. it seems - to squeeze Rob/Owen in whether he fits or not). Some of his comments were a little awkward, I thought (referring to Paul’s trans storyline as “stuff” makes me go 😬), but whatever. He’s not the point of all of this, so that’s the last I’m going to talk about him.

TOMMY VEGA. I AM READY TO STAN. I love Gina Torres, I already love how much heart and soul she is giving just in these quick peeks, I cannot wait to see her in action!

Also let me use this moment to say that while it’s obvious I’m not getting my Grace + Carlos friendship (that’s fine if it stays in fandom, I’ll live), I’m SO GLAD that her and Tommy are gonna be friends! One promo mentioned that Judd has known Tommy before, so it would not surprise me if they’ve been friends for awhile. LOVE THAT.

SPECULATION: This gives me a good time to just throw out a theory that I’ve been thinking about... We know Owen and Gwen are hosting Tommy at their place for a backyard dinner. I assume her husband may be there as well, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Judd and Grace are there too. 

I ALSO would not be surprised if this is when one of the nights at Carlos’s place happens, like a parallel of the two dinner parties. That at least keeps every main character involved in both locations. We shall see though.

So this gathering at the firehouse seems like it’s going to be a pretty big scene, probably for episode 1. I think everyone’s gathered so that Owen can announce he’s in remission (we’ll hear him tell TK first, which is the hug that they share earlier in the trailer, I think). 

But this gathering also includes a Tommy/Grace moment, a Tarlos moment, the others doing other things kind of moments. It’ll serve the same purpose as a lot of the season 1 bar scenes, and I’m so glad they’ve moved those to the firehouse. I want that place to really start feeling like a home this year. 

(I want all of the locations to feel a little more grounded and special, if I’m being honest. Like, I’m SO GLAD that Carlos’s place is going to be a key location this season.)

There are now two instances of Carlos being next to Gwen (standing next to her while Owen makes an announcement and now sitting next to her at the table), so we better get some dialogue between them or I WILL BE SO UPSET. I WANT GWEN TO STAN CARLOS AS MUCH AS I DO.

EVERYONE IS SO CUTE IN THIS SCENE OKAY

TARLOS TARLOS TARLOS TARLOS

Like, WTF is TK’s face in this moment?! He looks so shy and bashful but also so happy and mushy and soft and in love. And then the way that Carlos softens because of how soft TK look?!?! WHAT IS GOING ON?!?! WHY AM I CRYING.

Seriously, I have to know what they’re talking about though to make TK fucking melt like that. 

Emergency stuff blah blah blah

TARLOS KISS TARLOS KISS TARLOS KISS TARLOS KISS

IT’S SO FUCKING CASUAL AND PERFECT AND NATURAL AND LITERALLY JUST LIKE A “I came over to grab this food from you but since I’m here I might as well grab a kiss because I can’t help myself”

AND LIKE... Carlos just leans right into it?!?!?!? like it’s something that they do all the time?!?!?! WTF I LOVE THEM

Mateo watches this kiss and kind of looks like he was talking to Carlos, TK, or both of them, so I love that they’re like in the middle of conversation but still like “wait let me kiss my bf because he’s close by and so hot and I love him” SCREAMING

ALSO LET ME BE THIRSTY BUT CARLOS’S SHOULDERS AND BACK?!?!?! TK’S FUCKING ARMS?!?! I’M SO DAMN GAY

Speaking of arms: this rando bartender at the wrestling match (so Covid doesn’t last long on Lone Star, I’m assuming like 2 episodes maybe?) -- I love that they tried to put him in a tight shirt and make him look like a possible threat or something and I’m just like 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

IT’S LIKE THEY’VE NEVER SEEN CARLOS REYES BEFORE

AND THEN THE FUCKING GREEK GOD HIMSELF SAUNTERS UP WEARING A TIGHT FUCKING POLO - CHEST OUT, ARMS JACKED, HANDS IN HIS POCKETS TO DRAW ATTENTION TO HIS DICK AND I’M JUST SCREAMING AT THIS POINT

BOYFRIEND 

BOYFRIEND

BOYFRIEND

But, like, seriously, there is no comparison. Carlos is fucking Hercules over here and this no-name wannabe boyband member could be a sand-colored rock for all I care. 

YOU CANNOT COMPETE WITH CARLOS REYES, DON’T EVEN TRY IT

I do feel like these two clips (the calendar line and then Carlos’s line) are spliced together but they might not be back-to-back, and I would love to see how TK responds to the flirting before Carlos comes over

HIS FACE IS KILLING ME THOUGH WHEN CARLOS COMES UP

BLESS RONEN

I feel like I *think* I know what he’s thinking, but I also feel like I don’t. Certainly, the scene seems to end with them both smiling and happy, but I wonder if there will be a conversation about jealousy or something?! IDK BUT THEY’RE DEFINITELY GONNA TALK. I NEED TO KNOW WHAT THEY SAY.

Someone posted how happy TK is going to be to have a boyfriend who is committed enough to him to be jealous, unlike Alex who didn’t care and cheated on him. I certainly think this could be a great moment for them to establish what this new relationship means for them, and I’m excited to see what they writers have planned.

I JUST LOVE CARLOS REYES THOUGH OKAY I LOVE HIM SO MUCH

How many times is Fox gonna use that clip of him holding his gun though? We get it, he raises his gun. I’ve seen it like 7 times at this point. 

I’m not complaining, really. I’ll take his face where I can get it.

LOVING the Marjan clips

LOVING the Grace/Judd clips

LOVING the Paul clips

I LOVE ALL OF MY FAVES

CANNOT WAIT TO SEE THEM DEVELOP THIS YEAR

Hearing Rafa talk about using his voice and speaking for his community just slaughters my heart, I love this man so fucking much and I’m so happy to be discovering him at the start of his career because he is going to go on to do big things and make the world a better place with his positivity and light and love and I’m so excited to follow him on that journey I just love him okay

ALSO THE MAN LOOKS SO FUCKING GOOD WHAT ARE THOSE ARMS I WANT TO DIE

THE FARMER’S MARKET SCENE

Are they shopping for food for the dinner party they’re hosting?! Maybe!

WE MEET SOME OF CARLOS’S PEOPLE

There is so much speculation surrounding who these two people could be, and I’ve heard some super interesting theories about Carlos’s backstory.

I’m gonna be basic though and stick with the fact that I think they’re his parents.

AND IF THEY ARE HIS PARENTS, THEY SEEM SO HAPPY TO MEET TK.

His dad/the man, like, shakes TK’s hand with so much gusto, a giant smile on his face

And Carlos smiles as he hugs his mom/the woman, and she’s smiling too

THEY ALL JUST SEEM SO HAPPY

I CAN’T BELIEVE WE MIGHT ACTUALLY BE AVOIDING THE HOMOPHOBIC PARENTS STORYLINE COMPLETELY

Y’ALL DON’T EVEN KNOW HOW MUCH I DO NOT WANT TO SEE THAT TRAUMA

I mean, I don’t know for sure, we’re going to have to wait for the episode. But god, do I hope for it with every fiber of my being. I want their trauma, if they have to have it, to be separate from their sexuality. They’ve done so well with TK so far, I want the same for Carlos. Let the story be fresh, let it be different, LET US HAVE DIVERSE GAY STORYLINES.

Y’ALL THE TEAM HANGING OUT AT CARLOS’S PLACE

I CANNOT

I’LL NEVER BE OVER IT

HE’S PART OF THE CREW. HE’S PART OF THE FAMILY.

IT’S EVERYTHING THAT I COULD EVER WANT FOR HIM OKAY

I’M SO FUCKING HAPPY

THEY ARE SO HAPPY

WE ARE ALL SO HAPPY

I’M CRYING

I’M DEAD

LOL that was a lot but so was this promo.

Now, some somewhat sobering thoughts...

We all know season 1 had a real diversity and inclusion problem, we’ve seen the numbers. We also know that during the promotion for season 1, we ALSO got a diversity promo focusing on the LGBTQIA+ characters and the characters of color. I love that Fox wants to highlight the incredibly talented actors and characters that they have, but all of it means nothing if they are still tokens on the show. 

I have full faith that season 2 will be better, that some of the justified anger and frustration made it back to the writers and they internalized it and then make some real changes. However, because we did get a diversity promo last year, I have to remain a little cautious. This promo doesn’t really mean anything and if, somehow, season 2 goes the way season 1 did, it will be another instance of Fox using the characters of color to draw people in without actually giving them screentime and development. Which is a HUGE PROBLEM. So... I’m very excited and very hopeful, but also slightly wary.

Similarly, I’ve seen people say that they’re worried that, while there is so much Tarlos in this promo, this might be all the Tarlos we get this season. I don’t share the same concern, but like the diversity issue, I understand where that comes from. There was a lot of Tarlos in season 1′s promos and, as we now know, they got screentime in episodes 1-3 and then virtually nothing until episode 10. 

I kind of lost track of the filming schedule, but I think before they went on the holiday/extended hiatus, they filmed the first 5-6 episodes? Maybe? And we know that we’re getting 14 total this season, which means it’s possible that they haven’t even filmed half of them. 

I think the footage that we got in this promo is from, like, 3 or 4 episodes max. Definitely episodes 1 and 2, maybe 4, possibly 5. The crossover is episode 3 and I am still expecting to barely see Carlos in it - I just think it’s going to be very fire heavy one, especially with the members of the 118 coming in to steal screentime. He could be in one scene, maybe? Idk, I’m just not expecting a lot from that episode. 

And sure, we could get a lot of Tarlos at the beginning and then nothing for a whole string of episodes, but that also just doesn’t seem possible with the way they’ve restructured the relationship dynamics. Like, it really does seem like Carlos is going to be a part of the family this year, so I think it will be easier to include him and harder to delete him entirely. (Please let him at least appear in every single episode, I don’t want to be so fucking angry like last year.)

Also, if all of these scenes stay in the episodes, we are getting AT LEAST 4 Tarlos conversations - the firehouse, the wrestling match, the farmer’s market, the flirting by the truck - and other scenes of them being in the same space as part of a group. I’m sure there will be even more that we’re just not seeing. I’m very optimistic for this season and for the Tarlos content, and I really don’t think we’ll see the front-loaded imbalance that we saw last season. I think when they get back to filming the later episodes, there will be a good amount of Tarlos content in those, too!

I will say, though, that I am worried we’ve just seen the only kiss that they’ll share in the first 5 or so episodes. I’m just so used to network TV placing a limit on gay kisses, and Idk how much that has really changed in recent years. I truly love this kiss, and I hope there are more, but I would not be surprised if we end the season having only gotten like 2-3. (PLEASE LET ME BE WRONG.)

ONLY TWO MORE WEEKS UNTIL WE FIND OUT FOR SURE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[gallavictorious]

Hello! What do you think about this recent new rumor that Ian and Mickey will have a threesome with a woman to get her pregnant? This is based on one anon saying some shit about a threesome happening (no proof) and a new actress being on set for ep 11 and 12 (who could be related to Carl's or Debbie's storyline as well). I think it's very weird and I'm not sure the show would actually go there. Hope not.

Hiya, nonnie!

Well, I don't think very much about at all, to be honest. As you say, there's not a lot of solid stuff to back this up, but it's also not outside the realm of possibility (if only because so few things are). When I saw the first BTS pic of the actress lounging in the Gallavich house, my first guess was that she was somehow involved with Carl's story – but of course that's just as unsubstantiated as the idea that she's there for a Gallavich threesome.

The actress appears to be Shakira Barrera, by the way, of Glow fame, and apparently also Animal Kingdom. Getting this ask, I checked IMDB for any clues, and it lists her as playing a character named Heidi in 11x11 and 11x12. Now, IMDB is not necessarily a trustworthy source, since anyone who registers an account can suggest edits (which is how we end up with sudden listings of Emmy Rossum in upcoming episode credits and the like) but Shakira did post on her IG about being on the Warner Bros lot the other day and Emma liked the pic, and yesterday she posted a story about going to the Warner Bros lot and there being ”last day of school vibes”. I am terrible with faces – like, if one of my best friends get a radical haircut I do not always recognize them terrible – so I can really tell if it's Shakira in the ”Last night with the Allstar team” picture Noel posted yesterday, but... I think there's a pretty decent case for it being her? I dig it, if so; I liked her in Glow!

That admittedly doesn't do anything to either support or disprove the threesome, as far as I can tell, but now that I have the information, I'd like to share. ;)

Returning to the actual rumour... There will always be rumours, especially concerning things people fear might be true, and once that anxiety gets hold of you, it's hard to shake. There is little to suggest that a threesome will happen – we have this new actress on set, we’re expecting some sort of lovely and sexy Gallavich moments in 11x11, we know that JW originally thought* Ian and Mickey might discuss kids this season (although we do not know how covid affected that, since the interview was done before the pandemic truly hit, but he did bring up Ian potentially thinking about kids again in December, though then it wasn’t entirely clear if that was more of general observation about things Ian and Mickey might differ on or something we could expect to actually see in the season), and these things could add up to a threesome with a potential surrogate but they could also add up to so many other things – and these separate facts needn't be connected at all! Ian and Mickey can very well be discussing kids without suddenly having a threesome with a woman. I suppose the pic Cam posted of a fake baby kind of sparked the whole thing, since it once more turned people's minds towards Ian and Mickey having children, and in combination with the strong reaction many fans had to the orgy of 11x07... it was just fertile ground for this kind of speculation to take hold, you know?

But. I can't conclusively debunk this theory, nonnie; I wish I could, to ease the minds of those who fear the possibility. For what it's worth, I think it's based on very little and to me introducing a whole new character in the last two episodes just to get Ian and Mickey a kid doesn’t seem like the likeliest option – but that doesn't mean it can't happen. While it's not my first (or second or third) guess about what might be going down, I obviously can't make any promises or even educated guesses, because there’s not enough data for me to feel comfortable doing that. We'll just have to wait and see, I'm afraid; hopefully new details will emerge in the coming weeks that might give us further clues. (And if you’re sitting on anything relevant – anything relevant and sourced, mind you! – feel free to share, but please understand that I’m not terribly interested in the topic, apart from the sleuthing opportunities it presents, and have no intention of getting further involved in the arguments surrounding it - at least not without something solid to go on. ;) I might - and probably will - ignore asks concerning this: fair warning.)

I'd urge people not to borrow misery, when we have this little to go on, but while I'm not particularly concerned about this possibility (both because I don't think there's a very strong case for it and because I'd probably be less upset about such a developtment than most others, even though it's certainly not the SL I’d have chosen for them) I am very familiar with anxiety, and know that many fans are deeply distrustful of the writers. I suspect that nothing but actual, conclusive proof that this new character won't be involved with a character will properly soothe people's fears. Unfortunately, that I cannot give you at this point.

*I’m at work and can’t for the life of me find the relevant interview now; I’ll try to get hold of it when I’m back home at my own laptop to provide a link. Please take the claim with a grain of salt until then.

[erisfiles]

THE EMPEROR

IG - @kingsbtsffs / Tumblr - @prince13jimin-kingsbtsffs

The Emperor

characters : “The 7 Dragons” Emperors; Min Yoongi, Kim Namjoon, Kim Seokjin, Jung Hoseok, Park Jimin, Kim Taehyung, Jeon Jungkook. Ahn Y/n. Bang Hyunsik. Soo Jaemin

cameos : Prince Park Jihyun (Emperor Jimin’s younger brother) , Jeon Junghyun (Emperor Jungkook’s older brother, the general of his military, Jung Jiwoo (Emperor Hoseok’s older sister, his advisor), and Cha Eunwoo (a soldier of the Kim’s empire)

word count : I have no idea

Warnings for this chapter : 🚨🚨🚨Brief mention of whores and sex. Brief mention of beheading 🚨🚨🚨

genre : fluff, angst, smut, action, emperor au

Author’s note : I am sorry I have not updated in so long! I had gotten my wisdom teeth taken out about a week ago and I am still recovering!

DO NOT PLAGIARIZE/STEAL OR YOU WILL BE REPORTED.

Disclaimer : in honor of spring i am going to be using 🌸and🌷and 🌺as indent markers

————————————-

𝓒𝓱𝓪𝓹𝓽𝓮𝓻 𝓢𝓮𝓿𝓮𝓷

3rd POV

🌷Y/N stood still, the door slightly ajar, being cautious, focused on not being seen. Her breath hitched, her heart beating through her ears. Her knuckles turned white as she grasped the handle leading ti the boy. A loud silence fell upon everyone, the sudden downpour from being the only sound breaking the piercing silence.

🌺She looked at the guards standing besides the door, Y/N tilted her head to the side signaling for them to guard the main doors of the palace instead. She hesitantly held her knuckles above the door, afraid that maybe just maybe she would make the situation more worse than it already is. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, calming her nerves,p feeling her heart beat faster than normal. With a sigh, she opened the door to see the boys staring at her.

🌸Y/N looked at them, her eyes wandering around the room until she met eyes with Jimin. They stared at each other for a while, Jimin soon then ripped his gaze away from her, Y/N gulped wondering if he was mad at her. No, she knew he was mad at her. “I know you were eavesdropping.” Y/N gulped, looking down on shame and feeling her face heat up. Yoongi scoffed at her, pleased from how she cowered the moment she heard his voice. “Were you not taught not to listen to someone else’s conversation that doesn’t involve you?”

🌷Y/N scoffed, rolling her eyes at her husband, not giving a damn about his title. “Oh. But I’m sure I was involved considering you were talking about ME.” Yoongi walked away from his position, storming across the room towards her. Gripping her chin between his fingers, he tilted her head up, looking into her eyes and not minding their close proximity. “Now, why would you have a problem about my fellow allies and I talking about my beautiful wife? Or should I say my Empress?” Y/N’s eyes widened as Yoongi had confidently blurted out her secret.

🌺From the corner of her eyes she saw Jimin looking down, his knuckles turning white, figure taking a shaky deep breath. She felt her heart break for the vulnerable man, the vulnerable she can’t help but to love. Namjoon trailed where her gaze was and saw Jimin, breaking the silence, he clapped his hands. “Now, it is dark outside. The festival is today and the townspeople are getting ready. We should get going, ignore the problems for right now and celebrate. Yoongi, Jimin, and Y/N please stay behind. I need to speak to you privately.”

🌸Everyone else left, passing by Y/N offering her a small smile as they’ve come to find out a lot about her in a short amount of time. Taehyung stopped in front of Y/N with a harsh gaze, her looking down as he was still an emperor. Arms hugging her tight surprised her, realizing that the person was Taehyung, she hugged him back even though she had only met him. “I’m glad you’re my sister. If they cause you any problem just shout my name and Jin Hyung and I will rescue you, princess.” Y/N chuckled, letting each other go and separating ways.

🌷The door shut behind Y/N leaving her with her brother and two important people in her life. “Would you mind explaining what Yoongi meant when he called you his queen, Y/N?” Namjoon sat down on his seat, confused as to what was going on, confused as to why it felt like Jimin had to be part of this as well. Yoongi sat at the other of the long table, opposite of a Namjoon and Jimin, sighing as he already wanted this meeting to be over. Y/N looked at Yoongi, her eyes begging for help as she didn’t know whether or not to admit or deny Yoongi’s claim. “I was just joking around, Joon. Don’t take it too seriously.”

🌺Jimin scoffed at the words that came out of Yoongi’s mouth. “That’s bullshit, Yoongi Hyung. You know that.” Yoongi glared at him, crossing his arms, amused at the younger one’s response. “What bullshit, Jimin? We’ve known each other our whole lives. You know me, a jokester. Why can’t you take a joke? Were you actually scared I took your supposed woman? Weren’t you the one begging to fuck one of my whores when you came to my palace a couple days ago? A specific whore at that...Eunhye? Was it?” Jimin froze in his spot, his gaze now softer, filled with pity, focusing on Y/N and saw how her mouth was slightly ajar, probably due to the shock of hearing what Jimin had been doing.

🌸Namjoon sighed as his two best friends were arguing over something irrelevant. His gaze went to Y/N as the two other men continued to bicker back and forth, cursing each other out. Namjoon approached Y/N and put his hand on top of her shoulders making Y/N flinch. She looked at her supposed brother with saddened eyes, smiling bitterly at him she decided not to say anything fearing that she will break down the moment she opens her mouth.

🌷Namjoon took her hand and dragged her out of the room no longer caring for the two imbeciles he both considered best friends. Y/N mindlessly followed also no longer wanting to be in the same room with Jimin and Yoongi. After being dragged for a few minutes, she suddenly bumped into Namjoon’s back startling her in the process. She looked up only to see that he took her to the throne room. Y/N looked at him confused as to why he had brought her here out of all places and instead of celebrating the festival

🌺Namjoon looked at her and gestured for her to go in first. Fire suddenly illuminated the thrown room, the hallway getting brighter and brighter as the guards lit up the torches. Getting to the last to pair of torches, three thrones emerged from the dark, one that being bigger than the other two. “Appa...uh gave me his thrown. Though, I don’t know why. I thought that his throne would best suit Jin Hyung. However, even Jin Hyun didn’t want it, he told me that it was mine and always was.” Y/N looked at him and smiled, chuckling lightly. “Hey! What do you mean you don’t know! You’ve always been a leader, Joon. Ever since we were kids, you always were. Every time the three of us would go on an adventure, you would lead us to places. Not even the guards could do that so they had to follow you too!” Namjoon laughed loudly, remembering their antics as children, reminiscing the good memories.

🌸He remembered how they would always meet up, at one point he couldn’t hide it from his dad, excitedly telling him of his newly found friend, his reaction when he put the puzzle pieces together that you were their sister. “You’re going to have your thrown up there in a couple days. I’ve already told the blacksmiths to design you a thrown. That is if you’d like to stay here, my dear sister.” Y/N didn’t know what to answer. She had always known that she was welcomed in this kingdom, in the palace, she even had her own chambers. But to be an princess was something she was not ready for

🌷”Is there something wrong, Y/N?” Namjoon looked at her in worry, his gaze following hers. She was staring at the gigantic family portrait hung up above the thrones. Her father’s and her brothers’ individual portraits along with the portraits of past Kim emperors. “Why is your mom’s portrait not there?” Namjoon furrowed his eyebrows, realizing she was trying to avoid his question. “Don’t avoid the question, Y/N. Does it have something to do with what Yoongi had ‘jokingly’ mentioned back there? Are you really an Empress now?” Y/N seethed in anger at the mention of the bastard’s name. “No! I am merely a concubine.”

🌺Namjoon shook his head knowing his sister didn’t understand the full picture. “Y/N, you’re not a commoner. You are a princess. When an Emperor marries a royal, they become an Empress ruling his kingdom with him until their death, just like the sayings in the vows.” Namjoon walked up to his throne, tracing it with his fingertips, remembering looking up at his dad from his lap as a child whenever he sat down to deal with problems. “You can choose to stay here, while also being an Empress for the Min Empire and as a princess for the Kim Empire or you can choose to stay in the Min Empire. Either way, it’s a win-win situation as you do not lose any of your titles. The decision is yours.” Y/N felt as if the world was crumbling beneath her, so much has had happened all at once

🌸”But I don’t love Yoongi. I love Jimin. I don’t want to live in an empire with someone I do not love. I do not want to rule a kingdom where I feel like I don’t belong. I want to break my oath to Yoongi. I want to be with Jimin” Namjoon’s eyes widened at his sisters sudden statement. His eyes wandering around to see if any government officials were present. “Are you insane? Y/N, once you oath yourself to someone you cannot, and I repeat, cannot break it. If you publicly announced that you want to break the oath because you’re in love with someone else it will leave you headless.” Y/N wish he said the exact opposite, was Jimin worth it?

🌷”I know what you’re thinking, Y/N. I want you to listen. Jimin isn’t the one for you and-“ Y/N interrupted him, completely annoyed with everyone has been saying around her.

“How do you know what’s best for me?! Does EVERYONE happen to know what’s best for me except for myself?! I love Jimin and you can’t change-“

“He’s cheated on you multiple times, Y/N!”

Y/N froze in her spot, her mouth ajar, eyed as wide as saucers, stuttering, trying to process everything. Everything that happens and is happening.

🌺”No. Jimin told me he loved me. I may be pathed to Yoongi but Jimin is the one who owns my heart.” Namjoon sighed, rolling his eyes at Y/N who had always been hard-headed. “Jimin...I don’t know if he told you or if you’re aware at least...Jimin has a whore for every empire. Yoongi’s, ours, Hosoek’s, and Jungkook’s. You’re not the only woman beside his mom in his life.” Y/N couldn’t understand, well, she refused to listen and understand. He let his words go in one ear and out the other. “Yoongi..., he is a good man, Y/N. Don’t let rumors of him mess up your perspective of him. For Jimin, as much as I consider him my brother, he’s only been playing you this whole time. I’m sorry. I know you love him. We’ve known for a long while that you two were involved with each other. But now that the announcement that you and Yoongi are married, it can’t continue. I will make sure Jimin is not within 6 feet of you.”

🌸Y/N’s uneven breathing was heard throughout the massive room, her knees giving up on her eventually collapsing and her sobs became more loud and clear. Her nails forming crescents on the palm on her hands on how tight her fist was. She didn’t mind the pain, the pain that hurt the most was the heart break. She shook her head vigorously, denying her brother’s claims. “No brother would say that to me. No brother would make up lies just for her to stay away from someone she loves.”

🌷Namjoon sighed again, confused as to why his sister won’t believe him. “If you think I’m lying to you just to make you stay with Yoongi and leave Jimin then...then that’s up to you. I’ll leave you to talk with the government officials. If they ever mention you, I’ll say that you speak for yourself because clearly I can’t speak for you. I won’t ever speak for you ever again. You’re an Empress now, Y/N, whether or not you want to be. This was your destiny. Now let’s walk on our own paths because now you have your own that you want to walk by yourself in.”

“No, wait, Namjoon-“

“I presume I will see you at the festival, Princess Y/N. If not, good night.”

🌺When the door closed she didn’t run off after her brother even though she knew she was in the wrong. But she couldn’t control her feelings. She hated him. She felt more immense hatred for Yoongi. She hated herself and she hated Jimin. But she hated her Emperor more. She looked at the portrait of her dad, sitting in his thrown in his hanbok with a smile on his face, the only emperor who had a smile on his face in their royal portrait. “I’m sorry,...dad. I feel I’ve already failed you.”

—————————-

Y/N walked out of the frown room and out into the town considering no one knew her title she aimlessly wandered around. Eventually stumbling upon the seven emperors also aimlessly walking around with guards nearby, everyone making way for them. Y/N hid in the crowd as they stood in a line, the crowd gathering in front of the. Her eyes searched for a Jimin only for it to seem like he was out of this world. Y/N felt love and hatred towards him at the moment, to think someone had actually fooled her and used her.

🌷The General of the Royal Army’s booming voice hushed the voices amongst the crowd. “Today, we would like to make an announcement concerning all empires.” The general looked at Namjoon, receiving a nod from him and stepping up.

“These last few days have been very challenging for the allied Emperors. However, do not worry as we are trying our best to prepare for this altercation. No, it is not war, however, that doesn’t mean that this will be dealt with peace either. Along with that, my brothers and I have found news ourselves.” Silence fell amongst the crowd waiting for their Emperor to finish his speech. Y/N stood in the crowd also intrigued by what news he was going to announce.

“I’d like for us to introduce you to Empress Y/N of the Min Empire, sister to the the Three Kim Emperors.”

[plays-the-thing]

The Mandalorian S2: Style Over Substance – A Companion Piece

This is a companion piece to this video where I examine the strengths and weaknesses of the first two seasons of The Mandalorian. It’s a collection of ideas and evidence that were cut for time or focus reasons from the main video. I’ve included both timestamps and quotes of what section of the video each idea refers to. Under a cut for length.

[1:48] Akira Kurosawa, whose movies would be very important in the western genre was very big on complete and realistic sets and effects because it helps the quality of an actors’ performance.

“The quality of the set influences the quality of the actors' performances. If the plan of a house and the design of the rooms are done properly, the actors can move about in them naturally. If I have to tell an actor, 'Don't think about where this room is in relation to the rest of the house,' that natural ease cannot be achieved. For this reason, I have the sets made exactly like the real thing. It restricts the shooting but encourages that feeling of authenticity." – Akira Kurosawa, Something Like an Autobiography

 [2:27] Like the original trilogy, The Mandalorian has its fair share of humor. The sequel trilogy also had a lot of humor, and was criticized for it, but it wasn’t the humor itself that I think people had a problem with, it was how the humor was done. See, in the original trilogy humor never changed or undercut the overall tone of a scene. If a scene is tense humor might lighten or even break the tension but never undercut it. The original trilogy would never, ever, make fun of the plot, character, or scenes in its own movie. The Mandalorian follows this mold of lightening or breaking tension without undercutting the scene itself which also helps it feel like the OT.

Just Writes video on Bathos is a good expansion on this idea. Personally, I find that particular brand of humor, popularized by the Marvel movies, extremely off-putting because it just screams at me to not take the story seriously and that makes it pretty hard for me to stay immersed in it. My three favorite marvel movies are Guardians of the Galaxy, Black Panther, and Thor Ragnarok because Black Panther doesn’t really do that kind of humor and Guardians and Ragnarok manage to make it seem natural by genuinely being comedies.

 [7:18] This brings us to Episode 4. Last time I criticized this episode, but I wasn’t very specific, I just mentioned that we were starting to get away from showing and towards telling. Let’s take a closer look.

The first part of this scene, where the kid was being a nuisance, was actually really good. It kind of seemed like it was going to lead into some genuine frustration with him being a nuisance and therefore maybe some drama in their relationship. 

[9:51] Cowboy Bebop is another space western with a strong style and a mix of vignettes and episodes which advance a characters story. But every single episode builds up the themes of the overall story even if the plot has nothing to do with it.

To be fair, not every episode builds up *Spike’s* story and themes, but Cowboy Bebop has four main characters and every episode works towards at least one of the characters’ stories, characterization, or relationships.

[12:20] Mando’s mistrust of IG, when they really have quite a lot in common, speaks to something about his character.

What does it speak to exactly? Well, everyone might have their own opinion about that but here’s mine:

 IG-11 used to be a hunter, but now Queel has reprogrammed him. Mando still sees the droid as the hunter and is adamant that it can’t be trusted no matter how much Queel insists that Mando must trust his work reprogramming the droid as an extension of trusting Queel himself.

Now, why does Mando hate droids so much, and particularly this droid? Well, that’s an open question, but I have my theories. Part of it is the trauma he experienced when he was young, but I think it runs deeper than that. You know how sometimes the traits that really bother you the most in other people are the things that you don’t like about yourself? The IG-11 that Mando met is a lot like the part of Mando that I’ve been calling “The Professional.” IG is efficient and ruthless, just like Mando on a job. They are deaf to moral and personal appeals in the face of a contract. This is also the part of Mando that took the kid to the Imperials in the first place, the part that he conquered and redeemed by the end of the third episode.

But IG has been reprogrammed. Just like Mando, he has changed and now cares for the child over himself. IG even develops a personality, and at one point attempts to tell a joke. But because IG reminds Mando so much of that part of him he had to defeat, he can’t bring himself to trust him. The tension between them persists pretty much up until IG fully demonstrates to Mando that he is there both to care for the child, and for Mando. In this moment Mando begins to really see how similar they are.

This connection makes it hard for him to let IG make his sacrifice, and he even appeals to this by telling IG that he thought his old core functionality was gone. But by reactivating his old functionality as a part of his new core function, IG is also giving Mando a template to incorporate his Professional self into his new self. He shows Mando that those two halves of his self that came into conflict back in the beginning can be synthesized into one new whole. He doesn’t need to reject any part of his identity.

Then the newly synthesized Mando dons his jetpack, fulfilling his only stated desire in the entire season, and defeats a scenery chewing villain to win the day.

But that’s just my interpretation, and I’m willing to haggle over what exact interpretation the evidence best supports.

[15:29] Speaking of Luke, let’s talk about fanservice. Now to be clear, there’s nothing intrinsically wrong with fanservice, what matters is what always matters: how you use it.

This also applies to the other two “Trademarked Star Wars Problems” I mentioned in the last video: repetitiveness and hamfisted merchandizing. These things are not necessarily bad. For example:

I would bet Baby Yoda is the most successfully merchandized product since the OT, but there’s nothing wrong with that because they’re part of the story being told. Baby Yoda doesn’t distract from the story, they are part of the story. On the other hand you have Ewoks, which were originally going to be Wookies. I would bet they went with Ewoks at least in part to sell more cute toys…but at least they still sort of work with the story. In TLJ the penguin things are there for no other reason than to be cute and sell toys. Same with the crystal dog. They have literally no purpose in the story, and their obvious and prominent inclusion only to sell toys distracts from my immersion.

Obviously repetition is part of stories. That’s why we have tropes, and the Hero’s journey, as tools for a writer to communicate information quickly. Just from his outfit we know a lot about Han before he ever opens his mouth, same with Obi-Wan. In RotJ, the heroes need to blow up the Death Star again. It’s kind of annoying that we’re literally doing the same thing we did two movies ago, but at least it’s a little different. In TFA Han Solo reassures us that the Starkiller Base isn’t that big of a deal by saying “don’t worry, there’s always a way to blow it up.” This is an example of a character reaching out from the script and telling the writer to change their story because the repetition is getting ridiculous.

[18:32] So…why is it here? Yeah, I know who Thrawn is. I don’t know why Ahsoka does, or why she cares, or why I should care. If the writer had cared about that they would have made her talk to Mando about it so she could give some sort of story or character-based explanation for why she cares, instead of just dramatically saying his name.

I mean I know the most likely reason it was here: to build hype for her solo show, but they could have done that without punching my immersion in the kidney.

[20:20] So it was no surprise that in the end the Expanded Universe’s greatest hit of all piloted his X-Wing into the show. But, I didn’t mind this. They had been seeding that a Jedi would be coming to collect Groghu for a while now, and if you had been running through the timeline in your head you were probably at least half expecting this. It’s foreshadowed well, it’s part of the story, and it triggers our emotional climax.

The reveal is quite well done too. First it’s an X-Wing, then we see a Jedi dressed in Luke’s RoTJ gear but it’s over the security cameras so there’s no color, then we see it’s a green lightsaber, then they clearly show that it’s Luke’s lightsaber hilt, then they finally have him peel his hood back. Each small reveal builds up the suspicion in your mind that it’s Luke until it’s confirmed.

That being said I would totally understand if someone thought it was obnoxious and hamfisted to shove Luke into another story, even though it did work for me.

[29:12] Parts of it even connect back to Mando’s story and character, though not in a new way because it’s mostly a redo of Mando’s relationship with IG last season.

I understand that Mando breaks his rules a little bit more here, but it’s still a riff on the same theme of: Mando has a conflict with a character, the he sees the similarities between between them, and then circumstances force Mando to take his helmet off in front of the character.

However if his arc with the other Mandalorians was functioning properly than this could work as a synthesis of a change in ideology and a reassertion of his willingness to bend the rules, but instead it just comes across as another redo of stuff in the last season. It’s still halfway functional because by this point it’s easy to forget that Mando had a character arc last season and it reminds us of that right before they pull the trigger on his and Groghu’s separation…but redoing the development from last season doesn’t count as a real character arc.

[31:08] There is so much more I could say about all of the bad writing, plotting, and characterization in this season. There are so many things that just don’t make sense, waste our time, or just plain don’t work.

I’m still confused over what the writer was trying to do with the snow planet. Like they crash land there and Mando decides to go to sleep inside his hull-breached freezing ship and the fish chick is like “Mando this is dumb you should fix your ship” and then he just fixes it. What was even the point of handing Mando the Idiot Ball there? Why not just have him fix the ship without trying to commit suicide by hypothermia first? Like…what?

[31:27] Why are you just listing off a bunch of names that mean nothing to us like she’s a video game character telling us where we need to go next?

I want to point out that even though I’m using this footage of Delphine as a reference she’s actually managing to tell you something about Malborn and why he is trustworthy, so it’s actually better than what Bo is doing. Though to be fair the tidbit about “the forest planet” is cute since it will be a deforested planet when we show up, that line needed some character connection to not sound so weird.

[33:13] That’s what the point of Show Don’t Tell *really* is, it’s not about how much dialogue you use or whether a character is explaining something. It’s about using exposition to tell us something about a character at the same time. It’s about putting the camera in a place that shows us something about the character or the action, not just what’s happening. It’s about packing as much of the story as possible into every choice you make.

In Avatar, the way that Zhao tells us about Zuko’s banishment tells us a lot about both Zhao and Zuko. The camera angle here emphasizes Katara standing encouragingly over Aang’s back as he stares dejectedly at the ground (contrasted with Toph’s angry stare) and tells us about the nature of Katara’s relationship to Aang as his teacher and friend as opposed to Toph’s. In the opening shot of A New Hope, the low angle of the camera implies dominance and the length of the Star Destroyer shows us the long reach of the Empire. Every single time Zuko is on screen it is worth paying attention to which side of his face is dominating the shot: scarred or unscarred. Exactly what each side represents is up for debate: I tend to think of it not as good Zuko vs. bad Zuko but more as Zuko’s feelings of obligation to his family and people and Zuko’s obligations to his own sense of what he believes is right and what he needs to self-actualize.

Show Don’t Tell is just a saying. It’s a saying to encourage writers, particularly new or inexperienced ones, to focus on the *art* of telling the story instead of focusing solely on the plot and facts. I am using it somewhat liberally here to say it’s about “using exposition to tell us something about a character at the same time” but since that is about the art of telling stories, and not just a recitation of facts, it does technically count.

[34:32] With television shows and the way they can go on forever, and with how much money there is in going on forever, it seems like they always become a sagging mess at some point. Some of them manage to bring the quality back, but some of them don’t. So to a certain extent, these problems with the Mandalorian are kind of normal for television shows.

I can’t remember exactly where I stopped watching How I Met Your Mother, the last thing I remember is Ted dating some crazy girl and swearing off relationships. I abandoned The Expanse midway through season 2 earlier this year…maybe I’ll go back but boy was I bored. I made it all the way through the Wire. Season 2 had its problems but eventually got back on the right foot midway through or so, but the problems came roaring back in season 5 which it took me almost a year to finish because it was so agonizing.

Avatar is probably the most controversial choice here of a show in which the quality slipped but I firmly believe that if they cut out the second half of season 2 and the first half of season 3 the show would have been much, much better. Most everything in Ba Sing Se is tonally weird and the whole idea of a city with too many rules and bureaucracy is way too complex an idea for this show to tackle. Avatar does tackle incredibly complicated and adult themes for a kids show but in my view this was one step too far. They get Zuko to a place where he’s ready to join the Aang Gang but then have him backslide temporarily. There’s this whole idea of an invasion on the Day of the Black Sun but it would be such a story cheat to allow Aang to beat the Firelord without actually mastering the four elements and so obviously isn’t going to work. All of these things together just make it feel like wheel spinning where the story and characters aren’t actually growing or developing but just being padded out.

Except for “The Tales of Ba Sing Se” and “Appa’s Lost Days” obviously, those are great.

It’s actually pretty funny because the episode before Aang is supposed to fight the Firelord the first time (the Black Sun time) he’s a nervous wreck and everyone is trying out different psychological techniques to try and make him feel better which is…I guess sort of valuable for kids to see that nervousness is normal. But when you compare it to the second time he’s going to fight the Firelord, for real, it’s *so obviously* for real this time because Aang is having a *character* based crisis about the conflict between his pacifism and his duty to stop the Firelord. The comparison of the two is telling in terms of what was going on in the story of each.

[35:03] Now they are spinning it out into not one, not two, not three, but FOUR different shows all based on the Mandalorian. It’s almost gross how hard they are milking this.

Okay apparently they fired Gina Carano so I guess it’s not four anymore. Or maybe it is who knows. Listen, the point is they *intended* to make four shows okay.

[35:06] Thanks for watching all the way through to the end. These videos take a ton of time and effort so that means a lot. Even though I’ve reset my subscriber count to zero now that I’ve criticized the Mandalorian, I will continue to work on the channel as much as I can, so subscribe if you want to see more videos like this.

I promise to always give you my honest opinion.

Also I know I was shooting for one video a month and, well, I still am but these videos are really time-consuming. I want to make sure I maintain a really high level of quality and so sometimes I get halfway through a video, realize it’s no good and have to start over with something else. Sometimes it takes months of rewrites to get it to a place where I’m happy with it. This one came out pretty quickly, it was about 6 weeks from when I started the script to when I uploaded. Hopefully I’ll only get better and more efficient at it as I get more practice.

[reverse-moon]

I've been reminded of my absolute need to have Fi back in my life, so have this ig-

Zelda paced around the castle, Link following her as closely as he could. The princess - no, she was a queen no - was really draining his stamina.

Both of them recently had been getting dreams of places and people they didn't know... But did. Past lives, as Zelda put it. But one had been a confusing person. A floating girl, blue skin, purple and blue outfit and seemingly connected to the Master Sword.

Apparently, praying to the goddess did nothing. They had repaired any and all damage to the weapon from time many times, in hopes to reawaken the girl. But, Link knew this was getting to Zelda. After all, this could be their one true connection to their original selves.

As he once again dashed to catch up, he noticed a short female being followed by the guards. Zelda was already running off again... At least it was still in the castle. Besides, now as queen, she didn't have to sneak out a back way. She always left through this front gate. So, the guard went up to the young girl.

He sighed a few things to the guards, who were panting as they caught up. "Sorry, sir! She just pushed past us after we told her that Her Majesty was having a small issue!" One said, before both moved to either side behind Link.

The other whispered to him. "By the way, she'll get prickly if you call you kid. Apparently she's almost 28-"

He looked over the girl, before tensing. Her hair was a light yet slightly dull blue, matching the colour of one eye. Her other eye and her dress was a dulled and slightly darker lilac. Her sleeve-lets were both colours, one of each. It almost didn't look like her shoes and tights (leggings?) were separated too. A large red gem hung from her ear as an earring, and she had a matching red gem on her chest as a part of the dress. Her skin was darker than the normal Hylian, though still not quite Gerudo or even Sheikah. And he was fairly sure almost every Yiga was male.

She was eerily like the girl they had been trying to summon from the sword.

"General Link, is it?" She asked, a monotone yet insistent voice coming. "I request to go to the royal library, after offering my assistance to Queen Zelda."

A sigh and the guards were sent back to their posts. Now, Link despised talking. After so long of being a selective mute, then losing consciousness for 100 years, it hurt to talk for long times.

"What is your name?" He asked, raspy and slightly pained voice clearly causing a worry in the shorter one - though only the look of her eyes showed it.

"My name is Fiona. However, I am more commonly known as Fi in my village."

Fi. That was the name in the memories... Dreams?

"Follow me," Link said, walking off after Zelda. If he was right she'd be in...

He glanced back at Fi as he opened the library doors, watching as her eyes lit up in excitement while her face stayed neutral. A smile and he walked in, guiding her to where Zelda was. The ancient history area.

He let out a slight grunt to catch her attention.

"Link, I cannot afford to waver in this. We must get that spirit back... Perhaps she can explain things."

Link looked unamused but grunted again, pulling Fi in front of him.

"Link, I know I am running you ragged, however-"

Another grunt. This time, Zelda looked up from the book in frustration and looked over at him. She was obviously about to snap at him (or apologize in anger) when she saw the other girl. "Who... Is this?"

"My name is Fiona. However, I am more commonly known as Fi in my village," the girl repeated, verbatim, for the queen. "Your Majesty, I came to research a topic my local village library has nothing when I was told about a predicament you seemed to be having. If I may, is this predicament about this spirit you mentioned?"

Zelda looked at Link, the same knowing look on her face. "Yes, it is... The spirit of the Master Sword." The queen turned her gaze to Fi. "Do you know anything about it?"

Fi blinked a little, before speaking. "There is a high probability I have some knowledge. However, I do not think any books here would have anything on it." She closed her eyes. "Most stories as that one are now considered myths and therefore are going to have their stories under the fictional areas of libraries. Might I suggest you look there?"

Maybe I'll make more...

[caelystrae]

Don’t You Love Me Now?

wow this acct is back from the dead after a yr bc its @letanafuck week and i plan on... hopefully... writing some kinks that i wouldnt on my main (but still horny) acct

todays prompt was old/young which tbh ive written abt on multiple accts before (two ghosts on here and scars & shadow both on my main) but u know.  i gotta let ana fuck.  so heres more new Content ig

ao3

Pairing: Anamercy

Rating: M

Words: 3.5k+

When she looks down to meet Angela’s eyes, one leg moving to hook over her lover’s shoulder, she does so over the same body which survived the Omnic Crisis, which bore a child, which once was unmarked, unmarred, but thoroughly untested. Now, despite the shifting geography of her form, new marks and rolls appearing over time, she knows her body better than she did when she was younger, is far more at peace with who she is.

Or,

Angela may be getting older, but Ana realizes that she herself is just plain getting old, and isn't quite sure how to feel about it.

Aging was something that snuck up on Ana—a grey hair here, an age spot there, change so gradual that she did not notice it in herself, never taking the time to observe any one change in particular until, one day, she realized that she had come to look entirely different—and this does not bother her, particularly.  If she cared about any of it, she would have taken more note as it were happening, but it is one thing to recognize signs of aging in oneself, and quite another to see them in one’s lover, particularly when said lover is notably younger than oneself.

When Ana began to notice wrinkles around her own eyes, it did not bother her at all—if anything, she was pleasantly surprised to realize that, despite the Omnic Crisis, and all that followed, she had lived long enough to have any—but it does bother her, shortly upon being reunited, when she sees those same lines around Angela’s eyes.  Were anyone to ask her why, she could not say, because she does not find them unattractive, nor is it particularly surprising that Angela might have a laugh line or two at her age, but there is a nagging worry there, something she cannot quite put a name to which bothers her nonetheless.

That same feeling returns two weeks later, when, while Angela is looking for clothing for some event or another, Ana notices that one of her favorite dresses, memorable if only for how its bright color stands in contrast to the rest of her wardrobe, is conspicuously absent.  In response to Ana’s inquiring as to where it went, Angela just laughs, shrugging off the question by saying that in the past three years or so she went up a size or two, and that she does not mind it much, given her age, thinks it is only to be expected.  There is little reason to press the issue, particularly given that Ana quite likes Angela’s current weight, and does not want to give the impression that she feels otherwise, but still there is that something about the statement.

Another three weeks go by and Angela is frowning into the mirror at herself, fingers pushing her bangs out of the way so she can more carefully examine the roots of her hair.  While Ana cannot see precisely what her lover is doing, from her place outside the doorway of the bathroom, she has a fairly good idea.

“Staring won’t make the greys go away,” she says, and watches in some amusement as Angela drops her hands quickly, almost guiltily, turning at once to face her.  That amusement fades quickly when she sees the expression on Angela’s face, far from happy.

“Are they that obvious?” she sounds almost resigned as she says it, crossing an arm over herself in a way that Ana knows, by now, means she is nervous as well, “I hoped that maybe they wouldn’t be so obvious, in the blonde, but—”

“They’re not,” Ana reassures her, before she can continue the thought, “I wouldn’t have even brought it up if you didn’t seem so worried about it.”

“Ah,” says Angela, but it doesn’t seem to calm her any, for she bites her lip and turns her gaze away, towards the shower in the corner.  There is a considerable pause before she speaks again—they have known each other long enough, by now, that Ana knows when to push, and when to wait—but speak she does, “I don’t like it,” says she, “Feeling like I’m getting old.  Before you came back I was the oldest woman here, you know.”

Before speaking Ana shifts her weight, rests against the frame of the door, making sure that there is enough room that if Angela wanted to, she could push past, will not feel trapped during the ensuing conversation.  If her lover were to ask, that is her reasoning—not that she needed time to gather her thoughts, to choose carefully what to say next, although that is the truth.  It would be a lie, she knows, to say that Angela is not getting older, because certainly she is nearing middle age, and it would do neither of them any good to pretend otherwise, but that Angela is older than she once was does not make her old, particularly not in Ana’s eyes.  It clicks, then, what has been bothering her: for all that Angela is clearly older, she is still far younger than Ana herself; if Angela is old, what does that make Ana?

“You’re still younger than I was when we met,” says she, and it is true: eighteen years later, and Angela is still five years from the age Ana was then, even though just a few months under half of her life—and less than a third of Ana’s—has passed.

That does not seem to comfort Angela in the slightest, as she is still staring resolutely in the direction of the shower curtain when she speaks next.  “That doesn’t make me young,” she argues, and she is not wrong, necessarily, but certainly she cannot seem old to Ana, who only recently began to think of herself as being old.

“No,” agrees Ana, “It certainly doesn’t.”  Another pause between them, before Ana asks, carefully, “Is that such a bad thing, though?”

The hand Angela does not have pulled across herself now grips the sink so hard her already pale knuckles turn white, “You tell me.”

“I’m sure I can’t know what you mean,” Ana tells her, and tries not to sound too sharp, even if the comment immediately puts her on the defensive.  Outside of the subject of work, of their differing interpretation of what is right and what is wrong, the two of them rarely argue, but on the rare occasion that they do, neither is inclined to mince words.

“What are we doing here, Ana?  Sneaking around, never talking about our relationship in front of anyone, keeping everything a secret the way we always have,” she turns, suddenly, to look Ana in the eye, gaze sharp, “It made sense then—with how young I was, and you being so much older—but now?  I’m not young anymore, Ana.  Why are we still hiding, unless we don’t know what else to be?”

“Angela,” she begins more sharply than she wants to, pauses and takes a breath before continuing, “There was a rather stringent anti-fraternization policy then, if you’ve forgotten, and you haven’t made any mention of our relationship since my return, either.  I didn’t know it bothered you.”

Angela opens her mouth as if to object, but Ana is not done, has more to say about the matter, “And your age didn’t have anything to do with my attraction to you—if anything, I was worried I was too old for you.”

“Don’t lie to me,” Angela says, and if she were not so obviously angry it might sound like a plea, “You’ve been strangely quiet every time I’ve mentioned my age since you got back.  Did you think I wouldn’t notice?”  In her anger, she had straightened up, moved forwards, but now she shrinks into herself again, leans back against the sink when Ana, too surprised by the turn of conversation to argue, does not respond quickly enough, “You don’t have to stay, if you don’t find me attractive anymore.”  When she says this, her eyes flick over Ana’s shoulder in the direction of the door.

“I’m not lying,” Ana says, trying not to be annoyed by the accusation, or at least not to show annoyance.  “It’s just… become harder to ignore, recently, how very much older than you I am, and always have been.  If either of us is too old for the other, it isn’t you.”

Angela laughs, then, relaxing at last, and grins at Ana when she says, “I daresay that’s part of your appeal.”

Hearing that should not surprise Ana, really, not with how eager to please Angela has always been, the way she flushes when Ana calls her a good girl, the age of the various celebrities Angela has mentioned finding attractive before, but it does surprise Ana, nonetheless—perhaps because she always avoided thinking about how young Angela was, preferring to focus, instead, on all the ways in which they were equals.

She really does not know what to make of this.

(Whatever allusions Angela might have made in the past

“That’s… interesting,” is what she settles on, after a considerable pause.

“Does it bother you?” Angela asks her, and Ana is surprised to find that it does not.

“No,” says she, without hesitation, but then, “It’s probably something we should discuss, though.”

“Probably,” Angela agrees easily, and then, stepping forwards to close the gap between them, “Later, though.  For now,” she moves a hand upwards, cupping Ana’s jaw and leaning down just slightly so that they are level with one another, “I can show you just how much I appreciate your current age.”

Who is Ana to say no?

In the years prior to their separation, Angela was never interested in taking control, always content to allow Ana to initiate sex and decide the pace; in the ensuing years she has grown bolder, although she has never said why, and Ana has never asked.  Seven years ago, Ana would not have wanted this, to be lead backwards and then pushed down onto the bed, for she had so little control of the rapidly unravelling Overwatch that she felt she needed to take it where she could—but now, older still, and maybe even wiser, if she is lucky, it does not seem like such a bad thing to let Angela take control for a short while.

(There is also the fact that it is easier, these days, for her to not be the only active partner.  She can only kneel or thrust or do whatever else for so long before she grows sore, and needs to change positions, and Angela stepping up and being less passive is certainly beneficial for the both of them, in that regard.)

So she allows Angela to divest her of her clothing, even if she is moving not nearly so quickly as Ana knows she could, nimble surgeon’s fingers pretending to fumble with the fly of Ana’s trousers, and toying with the hem of her shirt.  Ana wants to complain, to urge Angela to just hurry up, to joke that she is not getting any younger, anything if it would make Angela move faster—but she does not know, yet, how far she can push when Angela takes charge, and rather wants to see how their evening will turn out.

Eventually, it seems Angela has had enough with her teasing, and finishes pulling Ana’s clothes from her, kneeling above her on the bed, a knee just outside either hip.  Ana shivers, from the cold and the scrutiny both.  It is one thing to know that she has aged, and to accept it, but quite another to have just discussed it, and to find oneself wholly bare before another person.  When Angela looks at her she will see scars she does not know the origin of, for they have not discussed them since Ana’s return, including a rather grotesque one along her side, a jagged, light depression against the surrounding tissue, will see breasts that never returned to their original firmness after breastfeeding, and have only grown saggier with age, will see an abdomen which was once well muscled and that now, while still strong, does not look so.

(Angela, too, has changed, has more moles in more places than she ever did when she and Ana were first together, and from this angle her weight gain is more visible—even if it is difficult to know which changes in her silhouette are attributable to HRT and which are aging—but Ana is not looking at those things, is watching Angela’s expression as her own body is scrutinized.)

“Beautiful,” she breathes, before bending down to kiss Ana’s neck, one hand moving to cup a breast, and when she says it like that, Ana can believe it.  She lingers, with each kiss, moving slowly downwards towards Ana’s breasts, murmuring gentle praises between each kiss, stunning, gorgeous, strong, and it may have been decades since last Ana last let sweet words sweep her off her feet, but the increase in her heartrate is not purely due to arousal.

Perfect, Angela tells her before wrapping her mouth around a nipple.  Normally, she would only tease at it, licking it and flicking at it with her tongue, but perhaps emboldened by their earlier conversation, and her admission, this time she sucks at it in earnest, and Ana threads one hand in her hair to encourage her to continue, the other reaching down between the both of them so that she can touch herself.

These days, it takes time for her to be wet enough for a partner to comfortably touch her, and any embarrassment she might once have felt when tending to her own needs during sex has long since faded—and it certainly does not hurt that she knows Angela finds it arousing, a fact which shows as Angela redoubles her efforts at Ana’s breasts.

For several minutes, they are in a holding pattern, nothing escalating between them, and pleasant as it is, Ana finds her patience is beginning to dwindle when suddenly the timing of a particularly hard suck from Angela and her own thumb pressing against her clit coincide, and her hips roll involuntarily, breath hitching in response.

That, finally, is enough to spur Angela into action again, and after a brief—but necessary—pause to fumble around in her bedside drawer in search of lube, continues moving down Ana’s body, lovely whispered into the large pockmark left by shrapnel just below her ribcage, wonderful as Angela’s lips find her cesarean scar, and mine as she moves her hand out of the way and Angela finally, finally reaches her labia.

When she looks down to meet Angela’s eyes, one leg moving to hook over her lover’s shoulder, she does so over the same body which survived the Omnic Crisis, which bore a child, which once was unmarked, unmarred, but thoroughly untested.  Now, despite the shifting geography of her form, new marks and rolls appearing over time, she knows her body better than she did when she was younger, is far more at peace with who she is.  It may be a surprise to look down and see Angela’s face amongst white pubic hair, but her heartbeat still picks up when Angela traces around her clit in little circles, and she still feels that familiar pull of arousal when she feels Angela’s free hand begins to creep up the inside of her thigh.

(There are, of course, some small concessions made for age—that Angela is careful not to move her hips beyond what is now their maximum comfortable flexibility being the most prominent adjustment.  And while once Angela might have dedicated a good deal of time to teasing, she does not do so any longer—it takes Ana longer, now, to come, even with greater stimulation, although those single orgasms are stronger than the multiple ones she might have enjoyed when younger—concentrating immediately on Ana’s clit.)

Years of practice have ensured that Angela knows well what it is that Ana likes, and it is not terribly long before she feels herself beginning to draw close to an orgasm, hips moving in time against her lover’s mouth.  If she were the type to beg, she might say more, or please, or something to that effect, but she has never been the type to ask permission for anything, and particularly not permission to come, when she has always worked at least as hard as her lovers to ensure that she orgasms.

Instead she presses insistently at the back of Angela’s head with one hand, pulling at her hair in the way her lover enjoys, brings her free hand up to her breasts, tenses her thighs in anticipation, holds her breath and—

—Does not come.

A deep breath in, and out, and she tries again to let go, good eye closing this time as she focuses inwards, tries only to feel, not the sweat on her skin or the cold on her nipples—still damp—but the tension of her approaching orgasm, the pressure of Angela’s mouth on her, the warmth and wetness and pleasure.

She is right there, and she thinks yes, please yes, I need—

—Yet, still, she does not come.

After some thirty seconds, she has to breathe properly again, and she untenses her thighs for a moment as she resists the urge to huff in annoyance; normally, this would be enough, and she still feels like she is there, like she could come at any moment, but for all that she tries the orgasm which is so close eludes her.

Angela must notice something, her frustration or the movement or the way her grip on her lover’s hair tightened and then relaxed because she looks up, for a moment, asking, “Is something wrong?”

“No,” Ana is quick to reply, and then, embarrassed, but firm enough that it is a request and absolutely not a question, “I just need a bit more, sometimes, now that I’m older, so…”

“Ah,” Angela says, and then, “I do have a vibrator, if you’d like me to get it out?”

“No,” Ana says perhaps a bit too quickly.  From personal experience, she knows that she is very particular about the settings she likes, and doubts that taking the time to find the right configuration on Angela’s vibrator is worthwhile.  “You don’t actually have to do anything differently, it just might take a bit longer than usual.”

(In truth, the added sensation of something inside her might speed things up quite a bit, but even after transitioning, Angela is not terribly fond of penetrating anyone with anything, and Ana does not want to make her feel as if she needs to do anything—they can discuss it another time, when there is less pressure.)

When Angela begins again, she is more forceful in her movements, focusing more on Ana’s clit, and it is nearly at the point of being too much, of Ana wanting to ask her to slow down or ease up—but she is so, so close.  It is all she can do to stay put, to not pull away from the intensity of the sensation, because she feels again that she is right at the edge, and she does not want to lose the orgasm by twitching away at the wrong moment.

A minute passes, another.  Ana tosses her head and fights the urge to whimper, to beg.

Another minute, and Angela rubs soothing circles on her thigh, nuzzles closer into Ana, reaches her other hand to try and hold Ana’s, the way she likes to when she comes—and nothing about the sensation of it is terribly different, but suddenly Ana is there, tipping over the edge and trying not to buck her hips too hard into Angela’s face.

The unexpectedness of the orgasm makes it feel almost torn from her, and she is surprised by the intensity of it—though perhaps she should not be, given how long she teetered at the edge.  Angela helps her to ride it out, and when she is finished moves up the bed to lie next to her, propping her head up on one elbow and idly stroking the side of her face with the other hand.

After a moment to catch her breath, she turns so she can better look at Angela, who is at her blind side, “Your turn?” she asks, not certain if Angela—still fully clothed—will want to do anything, but more than willing should she prove amenable to the idea.

“Once you’re one recuperating, sure.”

“Recuperating?” Ana demands, and then, teasingly, “Just how old do you think I am?”

“I don’t know,” Angela says with a smirk, “I seem to recall someone saying just earlier today how you were much too old for an only slightly-old person such as myself.  And you do seem rather out of breath.”

Ana clicks her tongue, and rolls on top of Angela without any warning, pinning her to the mattress, “I’ll show you out of breath,” says she, using one hand to move a now compliant Angela’s hands above her head.  She leans in as if to kiss her lover, waiting until Angela’s eyes have drifted shut, face pointing upwards, to release her grip, instead bringing both hands suddenly down to Angela’s sides to tickle her.

The sensation is no doubt dulled by the fact that Angela is still wearing one of her many thick sweaters, but she shrieks nonetheless at the sudden sensation, unable to squirm away, pinned as she is.

Perhaps they are, both of them, growing older, but that hardly means that they need to grow up, nor change in any other way.  They can be happy just as they are.

[spotlightsaga]

Kevin Cage of @spotlightsaga reviews... The Mist (S01E03) Show and Tell Airdate: July 6, 2017 @spike @paramountpictures Ratings: 0.428 Million :: 0.12 18-49 Demo Share Score: 4.75/10 TVTime/FB/Twitter/IG/Path/Pin: @SpotlightSaga **********SPOILERS BELOW********** 'The Mist' has literally been driving me crazy. It's a project that I've taken on, completely committed to, no matter what the outcome... Although, you know, I knew in my heart of hearts that this was going to be tough road to travel. TV is such a completely different vessel than film and writing, books, or in this case, short stories. You have your Film Fans, who are protective & rabid, and that's understandable... 'The Mist' that was released in 2007, was listed as #4 on Bloody Disgusting's 'Top 20 Horror Films of the Decade', and it earned it, hardcore! We've already praised Marcia Gay Harden enough (or have we?), but it's really hard to argue that the film is anything but an unexpected gem that horror fans absolutely fell head over heels in love with, and rightfully so. The short story written by Stephen King has its own set of accolades and personal touches, and it all must be set on its own particular shelf. Despite the straight up 'mixed to negative' reviews that the television series has been getting, you're going to hear fans of the tv series avidly defend it... Ratings aren't exactly high, but they're steady. The same people who were watching it from the beginning are sticking with it, give or take a few minor down & upticks. Just like the film and the short story it's based upon, the show has it's own set of true blue fans. This is 'The Mist: The Series', its in its own realm, and we have to accept that. As hard as it is to stop yourself from compulsively comparing the three separate entities, you simply cannot give in... You have to look at each piece as its own room, with its own door, with its own individually made key... Each complete with its own decorative key caps, so that we know the exact door we're opening. So, when you get right down to it, I guess the most important question is what does a relatively low-budget television series have to present to a rebranding network on the dwindling eve of its 'end of the year' transition? What does it have to offer an already established franchise like 'The Mist', that a near $20 Million budget film and the infinite imagination of words on paper written by a world renowned author like Stephen King, within the pages of a collection of short stories have that has not already been offered up already? The answer is simple... Long term character work, but they must get it right to make this project stick it to its critics and it's overeager naysayers. Now here I go again, bringing up Marcia Gay Harden, but I have a good point. Harden was able to represent the opposite of what Thomas Jame represented in the film. The movie itself had limited time, but it made the most of its seconds on the clock... Separating the two complete opposite sides of a spectrum under extreme duress. It wasn't the monsters that buzzed about and added additional scares to the film that were so successfully frightening in the long run, it was the idea that under the weight of the world, two different sides of people emerge... One are heroes who do absolutely terrible things in the name of humanity, and the other are villains that think they are heroes because they are acting in the name of what they believe to be righteous. Pretty brilliant, right? That was the horror of 'The Mist', the film. We, as human beings, are the very things that go bump in the night... We are the bad guys, even if your intentions are pure. I've literally watched that film a gazillion times, so its extremely hard to get out of my head. It's only fair for me to judge the show without an extreme bias... And the only way to rid myself of that extreme bias is if I watch these episodes again and again and again. Four, y'all. I'm talking, I watched this specific episode 'Show and Tell' four times! Before you start sending me fruit baskets and letters of condolences, I started to notice that while many of these actors just aren't up to par, that the ones that are or are shaking up to be (Frances Conroy, Holly Deveaux, Danica Curcic *my breakout vote for the series*, Romaine Waite *step up, now, papo*, and even newcomers like Luke Cosgrove & Okezie Murro) are really attempting to step up and create some sort of magnetic character development for the audience to hold onto, to explore on a much more intense level, where time constraint that a film would face, really isn't a major issue. It's just that we have actors and actresses like Isiah Whitlock Jr and Alyssa Sutherland who simply didn't seem to get the memo that 'The Mist: The Series', needs them to tone down the cheese-factor. This is horror... And 'The Mist' (no matter the format) isn't a cheeky or B-Film Trip down a 'Full Moon' or 'Troma' like lane. I hate to rag on actresses, especially competent ones, but it's not always the actresses or actors that are to blame... It could be direction or something as simple as a horrible miscast... But Alyssa Sutherland (Eve) is not doing this series any favors. I'm a bit confused on her reactions in relation to her daughter Alex (Gus Birney) being trapped with the boy who 'supposedly' sexually assaulted her. It doesn't feel natural and it seems like the kid being accused is clearly innocent. After 4 viewing of this episode, I've developed an intricate theory, but I'll save it for later. The main issue is that the characters are all so separated right now, so until we start killing some off, thinning out the herd, and meeting important characters up somewhere in the middle, there's really no reason to dive too far into such a subplot. Honestly, and no disrespect to Sutherland, I just truly believe she was horribly miscast and unfortunately I feel like the young Gus Birney would fly better in the series if she had a different mother to play along side her. Hopefully their chemistry starts to percolate in the next few episodes, but for now it's not feeling conducive to the young actress trying to spread her wings. Speaking of spreading wings (oh, come on, you know I had to use that).... 'The Mist' shows off a different kind of horror than what we've come to expect from 'the brand' itself. It looks as if whatever is in The Mist is feeding off the psychological fears of each individual. This is where the show could not only get interesting, but use a completely new type of horror twist to attach to 'The Mist' name and flavor. The imagery was out of this world. Sure, the budget is low, but it looks like they are using good chunks of money on moments where it really counts, where they really need to capture their audiences attention... And believe you me, that scene where that boy sprouted wings in the murky fog of the dense mist was absolutely breathtakingly horrifying. Having Frances Conroy react to that scene was the best possible decision that the creators of the show could make. Although, 'Show and Tell' still shines down a mediocre light on 'The Mist' as a whole, this was the first episode where I didn't feel like it was such a chore to sit through. Sure, I had to watch it multiple times to truly find the things I appreciate about the episode the most, but not everyone will need that extra time to see what makes the positive side of the series pop. Like I said before, the cast is a bit too large in the numbers department, it's time to start killing these characters off, and if these are the type of innovative ways they plan on tackling this issue, then that's a pretty damn good reason to stay tuned in... At least for now!